By Pervez Bari, TwoCircles.net
Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh has been conferred the Most Improved State Award for its excellent achievements in infrastructure and agriculture sectors, on the basis of a survey conducted by the India Today Group. The state has notched up one rank up in the overall ranking of previous year. Last year its overall ranking was 14th and this year it is 13th from the top.
The Vice President of India M. Hamid Ansari presented this award to the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan at the 5th India Today State of the States Conclave-2007 in New Delhi today.
In respect of law and order Madhya Pradesh has been adjudged the best among seven western states.
According to an official Press release in the above survey the Most Improved State has been considered the one where the rate of overall improvement in performance between 2003 and 2007 has been higher in comparison to the improvement rate during the period from 1991 to 2003.
Chief Ministers of various states and Madhya Pradesh Minister for PWD and Information Technology Kailash Vijayvargiya were also present on the occasion.
Speaking on Inclusive Development on the occasion, the Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan reportedly said that the discrepant policies of the central government hamper inclusive, balanced and universal development of Madhya Pradesh. Despite this the present state government has outstanding achievements to its credit in development sector over last three and half years.
Citing the example of railways expansion the Chief Minister pointed out that the central government has set a condition that state governments should bear 50 per cent of its cost. Earlier, many states have already benefited, but backward states like Madhya Pradesh are not in a position to mobile adequate resources to meet this condition and are thus still lagging behind in respect of railway. Similarly, the norms for allocation under Indira Awas Yojana also have discrepancies. Madhya Pradesh is three times as large as Kerala but the allocation for both the states is the same. The Chief Minister further pointed out that Madhya Pradesh has 13 per cent of country’s forest cover, which benefits entire country. The state Government has to spend a lot on maintenance of these forests but the centre gives no
compensation.
Similar is the case with agriculture. Unless the farmers get remunerative return of their produce they cannot be happy and prosperous. The Chief Minister said that allegations and counter allegations apart, lucrative return of farm produce has to be ensured to farmers. The central policies are a hurdle in adequate and timely availability of seeds and fertilizers. The states are asked to import these on their own he said, adding that the states do not get adequate quantities of seeds and fertilizers on time.
The Chief Minister said that despite all the hurdles Madhya Pradesh Government has set new records in development sector over last three and half years. Over last 50 years saw the creation of only 2990 MW power generation capacity against which the power generation capacity has been increased by 2611 MW during last three and half years. Over 25 thousand km length of roads has been added during the period. Similarly, since Independence till last three and half years irrigation potential for only 21 lakh hectare had been created against which additional irrigation potential for 12 lakh hectare would be created till completion of the tenure of the present state government, he added.
Chouhan said that the state government has reduced the interest on farm loans to 7 percent. Besides, the relief amount provided to natural calamity affected farmers has been increased. A number of other decisions have been taken and implemented in right earnest for betterment of farmers, he added.
The Chief Minister hoped that in future the central government would make positive changes in its policies and approach to help states realize their full potential of development. ([email protected])